Whether you like it or not, in order to get some educational opportunities (be accepted into a college, receive a scholarship, etc.), you will quite often have to write an academic goals essay first. And it is not just for the purpose of landing a scholarship – it is beneficial for you as well. When writing such an essay, you have to define your goals, make plans, decide on the course of action. Here is a sample of how it is done.
My primary academic goal right now is to graduate with a major in East Asian Studies. In practical terms, I intend to deepen my currently rather basic knowledge of Japanese to bring it up to the level when it can actually be used professionally, and acquire a decent knowledge of Chinese as well. This is the reason I currently attend an East Asian Studies course at my current university, known to be among the better ones in this respect.
Acquiring this major will allow me to pursue a career path I’ve chosen for myself: journalistic career in one of East Asian countries, preferably Japan, reporting on current events in this part of the world.
As long as I can remember myself, I’ve always been fascinated by foreign cultures and languages. I’ve always wanted to deepen my understanding of societies that live differently from us, have different customs, language and worldview. I’ve chosen East Asian studies as my major because of the sheer difference between, generally speaking, Western and Eastern cultures – the difference I was always eager to understand and bridge.
Furthermore, I find learning new languages to be considerably easier for me than for the majority of my peers. I took a Spanish course in high school and attended Japanese classes independently, and achieving certain level of competence in these languages, even without working on them full-time, was interesting and rather easy as opposed to the difficulty and tedium experienced by many others.
I believe that I’m well prepared to pursue both academic and career goals in my chosen field, as I certainly have certain predisposition to it, and a passion for linguistic and cultural studies that remains undiminished for quite a number of years. Graduating with my chosen major will allow me to pursue professional journalistic career, live in foreign cultures, see them from within and tell people back home what is happening in other parts of the world.
I am one of those happy people who learn early on what their main talent is – and I intend to make every effort to fully develop it and use it to maximum benefit, both my own and that of others.
As you may see, your average academic goals essay should contain a declaration of what your basic academic goal is – but it isn’t enough. In addition to that, you should prove that you have a chance of achieving it (i.e., that there is a point in enrolling you or giving you a scholarship), that it really is among your interests, that you’ve prepared to work for it. But primarily, you should show that you know where you are going and what you want.